CLEVELAND — When Walmart opens the doors to its sprawling new White County store on July 29, it will become by far the biggest retailer this rural community of 25,000 has ever seen.

The store will bring 180 full-time and 120 part-time jobs, and sales tax revenues that had local elected officials singing its praises last week.

It also will bring stiff competition to small locally owned businesses and likely some trepidation to traditional mom-and-pop store owners in downtown Cleveland, less than two miles from the 157,000-square-foot store.

The so-called "Walmart effect" however, doesn’t appear to be as widely feared or opposed in White County as it has been in other small communities where the world’s largest retailer set up shop in years past.

And at least one independent study calls into question the contention long held by some that Walmart is a bane to Main Street.

"There wasn’t a lot of opposition around town from the business side," said Charlie Thomas, owner of Nix Hardware on the downtown square and a member of the White County school board. "There were some people who said they hated to see it come in and were worried that we’re going to lose our small-town identity."

But Thomas is confident that he can compete with Walmart for customers.

"In talking to my fellow hardware people in different towns, they have told me it typically helps them, because you have more people coming into town to shop and it spills over. We’re hoping that happens here."

Thomas thinks his 45-year-old business can offer something he believes Walmart can’t: superior customer service and expertise that comes with experience.

"If you know what you want and where to find it, you can go to Walmart and you’re OK," he said. "But if you need some advice, you’re better served to go to a local hardware store."

White County Commission Chairman Travis Turner this week characterized local opposition to Walmart as "slight."

"There are some concerns about your local mom and pops in the community being affected by Walmart coming in," Turner said. "I’m aware of some businesses trying to diversify into areas that Walmart doesn’t specialize in."

And that, according to the experts, is the key to small-business survival in a Walmart world.

Kenneth Stone, a retired Iowa State University economist whose 1997 report "Impact of the Wal-Mart Phenomenon on Rural Communities" has been considered by many a definitive study of the retail giant’s effects on Main Street, said businesses have adapted since then to meet Walmart’s challenge.

"Hardware store owners and grocery store owners typically are affiliated with a major supplier or company, and those parent outfits have become much more sophisticated in helping smaller merchants compete," Stone said. "They’ve taught them an awful lot about pricing and marketing."

Stone said Walmart’s much-publicized image of "everyday low prices" is not always true. The store varies prices on its items and may discontinue items that don’t adequately move off the shelves, he said.

While toothpaste, soap and other convenience items typically will be priced the lowest at Walmart, "it’s not uncommon at all to find some local stores with prices on some items lower than Walmart," Stone said. "The thing you’ve got to keep in mind is that a big corporation like Walmart is beholden to Wall Street."

And it is big. Walmart now operates about 3,500 stores in the United States alone. Stone believes one of the reasons outspoken opposition against new Walmarts has died down is that the store has saturated the nation. There are 20 Walmarts within a 60-mile radius of the new White County location, including stores in Dahlonega, Gainesville and Cornelia.

Walmart spokesperson Amy Wyatt-Moore said the company brings "a number of things to a community."

"We bring jobs, in this case about 300, we bring savings for shoppers, we bring increases in tax revenues, and we bring contributions to local charitable causes," she said.

Wyatt-Moore said studies show local businesses thrive from the additional consumer traffic a Walmart can draw.

"There are a lot of businesses that will spring up to take advantage of the additional customers coming into the area," she said.

Russell Sobel, a professor of economics at West Virginia University, co-authored a 2008 study that Walmart has cited on its Web site as proof of the store’s positive effects on a community.

Sobel’s study concluded that while Walmart may initially cause some small businesses to close, those businesses typically are replaced by niche retailers that offer something the retail giant cannot. For instance, a department store may be replaced by a boutique, or a fine dining restaurant.

"The bottom line is (Walmart) has no impact, positive or negative, on the size of the small-business sector," Sobel said.

Sobel says the "net welfare effect" of a Walmart opening in a community "is hugely positive."

Walmart, with its ability to sell many items for lower prices than its competitors, "saves the average American family a couple of thousand dollars a year," Sobel said. "When they’re saving that much, they go out to eat more, they have more money to spend. And it couldn’t be a better time for that."

But Stone, the Iowa State professor, says there’s only so many dollars that are spent in a marketing area. He estimates a Walmart of the size opening in Cleveland would gross $70 million or more in sales annually. In 2002, all retail sales in White County totaled $194 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

"That $70 million doesn’t come out of thin air; it comes out of other merchants’ cash registers," Stone said.

It also may come out of other counties.

Turner, the county commissioner, believes the new White County Walmart may attract customers from North Hall and Habersham counties.

"We’re anticipating a tax (revenue) increase for local government from Walmart’s presence," Turner said.

Other effects of the new store, either positive or negative, remain to be seen.

Stone said in prior decades, "there was a lot of panic when Walmart came into a community — people didn’t know what would happen."

A huge public relations push by Walmart, combined with small businesses becoming smarter in how to compete, has dampened the anxiety, he said.

"Now it’s settled down. There’s not as much panic."

Hardware store owner Thomas said he’s not worried.

"We have got a positive outlook on this," Thomas said.